Sharing thoughts in our quest to regain some of the peace and tranquility we knew as children growing up in rural America in a time gone by. I hope you find this narrative both comforting and inspiring. I hope it brings back memories and helps you move closer to your dreams. This is one aspect of my life that has never faltered, never strayed from home. This is a dream come true.

Monday, September 7, 2015

(Sep 7) Kitchen Counter Finished

We were very happy that our daughter, Stephanie, and family came out to visit and help this weekend. Great to share the time with family! David got his introduction to scorpions, centipedes and Brown Recluse spiders. Welcome to East Texas! We were clearing a wood pile that had several of each. You don't work outdoors without your gloves and you don't set your gloves down without checking them when you put them back on! Just part of living in the woods. :)

Stephanie and Riley, relaxing in the cabin since it was nearly 100° this weekend!

We also worked on installing the pipe for the stove vent on the microwave. Had to cut through Hardi Board, OSB and drywall to get the vent secured to the outside of the building. Not too bad but I broke off a saw blade in my jigsaw so I had to finish it off with a drywall saw. Toughest part was the Hardi. After we got the pipe through the wall, I sealed it off with some joint compound on the inside and silicone on the outside.

Through-the-wall vent for microwave/vent-a-hood

On Monday, we got busy readying the kitchen to install the fridge and stove. We had to cap off the counters and finally get them secured to the wall. Since we reconfigured the kitchen after we had closed the walls in, we didn't have all of the bracing in place behind the drywall. We had to make do with studs and braces we added under the counters. We also put some stops on the floor for the Elfa drawers, just to make sure they didn't get pushed back under the counter. We were really happy though with the outcome. Great to have it all secured finally.

Kitchen counter with sideboards and secured to the wall

We started getting the bathroom door stained and ready to install. I'll be the 1st to admit, I was putting a lot of faith in the hope that our door was an Ugly Duckling. I could see the potential and truly hoped that it would turn out beautiful - once we treated it. I was happy with the style, the workmanship and the grain. I just couldn't be sure how it was going to take the Tung Oil we had picked out for it. We had tried a little on some pine tongue and groove we had left over but we were underwhelmed. Yeah, it looked better but it wasn't a metamorphic transformation. I held my breath and started putting oil on our door.

Hardwood door before we applied finish

Door - after just one coat of Tung Oil

WOW! I couldn't have asked for more. The wood darkened up and came to life. All of a sudden, you could see the depth of the grain. The knots came to life and had character. The whole thing took on a deep glow. This was the vision I had when I saw it, sadly sitting in the discount pile at Home Depot. Can't wait to see what it looks like after another 2-3 coats of Tung Oil. It'll go GREAT over our "Brick" wall that we put up this weekend. Looking forward to getting the sliding barn door hardware put on and finishing the whole desk area. Not sure where it's going to end up but I'm liking what it looks like so far! :)

Bathroom door and new Elfa shelves for living area

We're still playing with the idea of maybe bricking the other side of the wall and taking out the shelves that we built a couple of weeks ago. We've about decided to brick behind the new Elfa shelves in the living area too. It would give the appearance that the bathroom was completely walled by bricks. We'll play with it some more and see how it comes out.